Rumors of the Turning Wheel - Softcover

Halley, Anne

9781558494008: Rumors of the Turning Wheel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1558494006 ISBN 13: 9781558494008

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003

The title of this powerful collection refers to the wheel of fortune. In a time long before television game shows, a wood and wire crank-driven mechanism would be set up and turned by hand at fairs and carnivals, next to the puppet-show booth, the pot and pan vendors, and the horse-drawn carousel. Country folk and children watched to see where the turning wheel would stop and if their folded paper "chance" might reveal the lucky number that won a prize.

The wheel turns more noisily, portentously, and can take on disguised or secret forms when Fortuna concerns herself with the fate of rulers and nations. Rumors of all kinds will be heard as the wheel's turnings stir the air. Rumors of war, of course, strange births, rape, the collapse of powerful houses and incestuous loves, always the rumor of impending death, sometimes a rumor of survivals and, often, one of hope for the children. These rumors were gathered on the sidelines and in the market squares during the last―the catastrophic twentieth―century, and they form the starting point for this memorable collection.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Publisher:

A new volume of poetry from the author of "The Bearded Mother" and "Between Wars and Other Poems."

About the Author:

Anne Halley lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, and is a poetry editor of The Massachusetts Review.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.